USC returns 19 starters from a team that finished No. 6 in the nation last season. Those starters include a Bietnikoff Award finalist and a Heisman Trophy favorite.

So how is it possible that that squad emerged from spring practice with “a lot of question marks,” according to Coach Lane Kiffin?

Mainly because it was a peculiar spring for the Trojans.

USC had a ton of injuries on offense – only one of which was major – so Kiffin never got a look at the unit at full strength. The one player who was lost for the year, linebacker-turned-tailback Tre Madden, looked like a budding star and a solution to the depth issues at that position. The Trojans had to replace only one offensive lineman (Matt Kalil), but he’s a projected top-five pick in the NFL draft, and his successor (Aundrey Walker) has no experience at that spot.

So while others are ready to anoint USC as the favorite to win the national championship, Kiffin isn’t.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Kiffin said Monday, two days after the Trojans concluded spring drills.

He then added this:

“It’d be hard for me to pick a team preseason No. 1 that’s going to play with at least 10 players less than everybody else.”

That statement was a nod to the NCAA sanctions that continue to hover over the program. Although they are bowl eligible for the first time since 2009, the Trojans are entering the first of three years in which they’re limited to 75 scholarship players, 10 fewer than the norm.

Kiffin said Saturday that USC couldn’t endure a similar rash of injuries during the season. “We wouldn’t be very good,” he said.

Fortunately, aside from Madden, everyone is expected to be back, including Biletnikoff finalist Robert Woods, who missed spring while recovering from ankle surgery.

Asked if it’s a foregone conclusion that Woods will be healthy for training camp, Kiffin said: “That’s what we believe, yes.”

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